Task 2: Good Design > An Example

Here is an example of a submission for Task 2: Good Design. Your product assignments are here.
ORCA MINI STAPLER

Designer: ECCO
Manufacturer: Hunt

Silver, Industrial Design Excellence Awards 2000

Ecco Design developed an animated form that gives the stapler life and attracts attention on the shelf, on the desk, and in the classroom. The organic shape of the stapler fits comfortably in the hand and gives it a strong presence and friendly personality. The baby killer whale styling of this stapler practically guarantees it will leap right off the shelves. Add the ability to lay flat or stand on end, a removable metal loop and a single-hole punch mechanism incorporated into the design and you get a whale of a product sure to grab its targeted youth and college markets. The humor and vitality of the form and color palette breathe life into the otherwise mundane task of paper organization.

BusinessWeek writer Bruce Nussbaum said "The Orca Mini Stapler fits easily into the hand and presents a funny, friendly face to the world. It's definitely not corporate but looks great in the SOHO - small office, home office - environment. Or at school. Always nice to have a little humor, especially when the product works so well."

Visual Design Analysis:

LINE: Friendly, flowing lines created by contrasting colour sections

BALANCE: Symmetrical halves enable lying flat or standing on end

CONTRAST: Light grey against vibrant colours

CONTRAST: striking distinctions between outer cover & main body

FORM: Organic, humour, fun

FORM: vitality breathes life to mundane paper stapling & gives product strong presence & animated personality

FORM: bulbous whale-like head & tail-like feet

FORM: rear volume comfortably fills palm

COLOUR: Tropical aquatic fish palette, appeals to young market
TEXTURE: Wrap-around rubber, palm-friendly padding & soft thumb scoop

PROPORTION: Bright colourful padding dominates overall form

Further information about the Orca Mini Stapler on these websites:
http://www.eccoid.com/item.php?id=6&cat=2
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2000_June_9/ai_62652696
http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_24/b3685146.htm

User Centred Design

Videos of Donald A Norman, author of The Design of Everyday Things and Emotional Design: Why we love (or hate) Everyday Things.

Examples of Presentation Sketches

These examples come from these books which are available at the UNSW Library:

> Olofsson E. 2005. Design sketching. PQ 604.24/23
> Powell D. 1990. Presentation techniques: a guide to drawing and presenting design ideas. PQ 745.2/55

Suppliers of Modelmaking Foam

> Foam Booth > Cleveland St corner South Dowling Avenue > sells "A Grade Polystyrene Foam" in 300mm x 200mm x 200mm blocks for $16.
> Australian Urethane & Styrene > 25 Garling Rd Kings Park Tel 9676 8444 > they sell whole sheets of 2500mm x 600mm x 100 mm for $80.575 + GST -- they can cut it in half for you -- at no charge -- so you can fit it in a van or large car.
> Dynamic Composite Technologies > 171 Newton Road Wetherill Park FREECALL 1800 051 100 > also sell sheets of 2500mm x 600mm x 100 mm for $94.75 + GST -- they can also cut it in half for you, at no charge if you give them notice -- take cash only

Task 7: Peer Comments

Within a week after the final presentations for the 3 major projects you are to provide peer feedback to 5 of your classmates on two points: what is good about the student's design and how can the student's project be improved. Anonymous comments NOT allowed.

Here are the links to your peers for Project One, Project Two and Project Three. You will notice that your peers change for every project. Find your name on the "Student Assessor" column and the names on the Peer1+Peer2+Peer3+Peer4+Peer5 are the people you have to provide feedback on. Go to those blog sites and post a comment on their project postings. Due Weeks 7+10+13.

Task 5: Video Reflections

You are required to watch the following videos and write a reflection on your blog for each, due on different days. Specifically discuss: What are your major “take-home messages” from the video? What possibilities does the video suggest for your growth as an industrial designer? How have your opinions about design changed as a result of the video?

> Due Wk 2 > Aug 08 > David Kelley: Human centred design
> Due Wk 3 > Aug 15 > Ross Lovegrove: Organic Design
> Due Wk 4 > Aug 22 > Yves Behar: Designing objects that tell stories
> Due Wk 5 > Aug 29 > Paul Bennett: Designing Details
> Due Wk 7 > Sep 19> Annie Leonard: The Story of Stuff Note: This is now due on Wk 8
> Due Wk 8 > Chris Jordan: Picturing excess Note: You do NOT need to write a reflection on Chris Jordan.
> Due Wk 10 > Oct 10 > Designing Dream Machines (This video is only available for viewing at COFA, UTS, UWS)
> Due Wk 11 > Philippe Starck: Thinking deep of design Note: You do NOT need to write a reflection on Philippe Starck.

Task 4: Bad Design

Carefully observe objects or devices around you and find ONE that you feel has significant design flaws. Choose either a

> Badly designed object

> Badly designed display/control

> Badly designed signage/labelling

Observe how people interact with the bad design and what problems occur. Document in photographs.
YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO USE IMAGES FROM THE WEB: ONLY ORIGINAL IMAGES PLEASE!

“Badly-designed” in this context means that users misunderstand the designer’s intent, resulting in erroneous usage. The designer’s solution could have been seriously flawed or doesn’t follow human factors principles. Focus on communication and interaction problems, such as package designs which cause the user to open it the wrong way eventually causing the contents to spill, or confusing road signage which could cause a driver to make the wrong move. Choose objects which cause confusion in operation as a result of the designer’s ignorance or misjudgement of how the user would interact with it. Unacceptable cases include those that merely require “upgrading” or re-styling a seemingly old-fashioned product or graphic to reflect contemporary aesthetics. Lack of durability, wasteful consumables, environmental damage, unappealing colours, wrong fonts, old-fashioned logos, etc. are likewise issues NOT appropriate for this assignment. This project is NOT about badly designed shapes, forms or graphics.

Present the following analysis in your blog site by Week 10 (Oct 10):

> Before: Images of the badly designed case, with annotations as to the design errors present. Highlight how the design causes human errors.

> After: Scanned sketch of suggested improvement. Describe how your suggestion will reduce human error. (You may want to sketch on translucent paper and scan the tracing paper as an overlay over the original image. You may also use PhotoShop or similar software to edit the existing image).

References

Norman D. 1990. The Design of Everyday Things

http://www.baddesigns.com/

http://www.thisisbroken.com/

http://www.ease-of-use.org.uk/

Don Norman: Thoughtful Design

Don Norman: The Design of Future Things

Don Norman: Cautious Cars & Cantankerous Kitchens

Cartoon from The Born Loser,11 May 1986

Task 3: Product Sketching

On Week Three Aug 15th the class will attend four exhibitions open during Sydney Design 08 at the Powerhouse Museum. Entry $5 for students.
> Australian International Design Awards
> Inspired! Design Across Time
> Modern Times: Modernism in Australia
> EcoLogic: Creating a Sustainable Future

In addition to the Powerhouse Museum you are to visit the following free-entry Sydney Design 08 exhibitions in your own time:
> Workshopped 08: Design Matters > Chifley Plaza, 2 Chifley Square, Sydney CBD
> Time Capsule > Beautiful on the Inside, 45/322 Bourke Street, Surry Hills

Students will produce a pen sketch of their favourite product designs from each exhibition. Sketches should be done in loose sheets of white A4 copy paper, occupying a significant area of the sheet, not minuscule thumbnails. Use black roller-ball or gel-ink pens (NOT ballpens). You can put textures on the drawings, but NO shades or shadows. Having more than one sketch of the object is encouraged. Poor sketches will be rejected and should be repeated.

You will then need to scan your sketches and post them on your blogsite, each captioned with the product name, designer, year of creation if available, and a short rationale why you think what you have chosen is the best design in every exhibit. These scans and text should be on your blog site by Week 5 (Aug 29).

Task 2: Good Design > Product Assignments

Check the websites of either the Australian Design Awards, Industrial Design Excellence Awards or BusinessWeek for images and other information on the product assigned to you.

Alam: Dyno Nobel Super EZ Connector
Arezzi: HFI200 Hands-Free Imager
Baigent: TLKR T3 and T5 two-way radios
Bossi: eneloop Solar Cell Charger
Brock: eneloop air fresher CAF-VW10TG
Carveth: Artengo RollNet
Chandler: LivingColors
Chau: Vapor 300 running watch
Cheung: Splash Bottle Dryer
Ching: Tatung Wireless VOIP Phone
Chung: Silicone Travel Bottle
Cohen: The O2 Cocoon
Cook: Ergon GR2 - bike grips
Cope-S: Jimmyjane FORM6 Massager
Cyril: Firefly flyPhone
Dimitroff: MOTOROKR S9
George: Armarac Server Enclosure
Ha: Belkin RockStar
Hu: Belkin TuneStudio
Hui: My Passport for Western Digital
Kagan: SyncMaster 932B/732N
Kim CA: Logitech Air Mouse
Kim Y: Snowsports Flaik
King: WRINO
Lee: Sensear SP1x
Leones: Guardian Breathing Apparatus
Li QL: Enttex P100
Lim: EZY-AS
Luo: Tupperware Go Flex!
Ly GH: Steam'nGo
Macdonald: Philips Arcitec
Mansur: Meridian Garden Pruner Range
Nguyen: Vicks Forehead Thermometer
Pace: Nanum MP3 Project
Paraan: CombiCarrier II
Phipps: 4-in-1 Pharmacy Tool
Reid: Zeppelin iPod Speaker Dock
Rondolo: Y Water
Ryan: Roku
Seo: Adiri Natural Nurser Baby Bottle
Serna: Mueller SuperPop
Shivach: NYC Condom Dispenser
Shroot: Creemy
Tam: Eva Solo Grill Basting Brush
Tong: Eva Solo Bin
Turinuddin: Sombreros
Turnbull: Lock-n-Lift Can Opener
Vuong: Eva Solo Table Grill
Wilson: Whirlpool Duet® Steam Washer
Wong: Eva Trio Kite chopping boards
Yiu: O-Grill 3000
Zare: Smart Touch™ Salad Spinner
Zhou: Wilton Rolling Pin

Task 2: Good Design

You will be assigned to analyze ONE award winning product design from the websites of the 2008 Industrial Design Excellence Awards and the 2008 Australian Design Awards. You need to have on your blog:
> High-quality image of product.

> Description of the product (what it does, what it is used for).

> Name of designer or manufacturer.

> Several closeup views of certain details of the design, discussing the visual design elements and principles present. Point out the use of the elements of line, shape, pattern, texture and colour. Rationalize how the principles of balance, rhythm, scale, proportions, harmony, etc were employed. Focus on discussing the visual elements of the product’s form and features and NOT the operational or technical properties. You may need to use PhotoShop or other image editor to create the cropped closeup images.

> References used. Clickable links to websites used, or books used.

See sources of information for this task on the useful links section of course blog site.